Tears fell. “I don’t want to hurt you.” For strength, I slipped my hand into my pocket, rubbing that ribbon. I’d made up my mind to give it back to Jack. Totally decided.
So why did I feel this unbearable grief to part from Aric? This wrongness? Why was I wrecked to the core? “I’m just having a hard time accepting that this is good-bye. Forever.”
“Oh no, not forever,” he grated, his eyes dazzling with pain. “You’ll win this game, wife, I’ll make sure of it. Then you will wait an eternity for me to return.” With a last consuming look, he said, “After so much killing, it comes back to me, Empress. Something dies in me today.” He strode away.
For long moments, I stared at nothing, my body trembling. Had I just made the worst mistake of my life?
Aric Domīnija was a magnificent, brilliant man who wanted me above all things. And I loved him. I knew I always would.
One love fated. One love endless.
I stumbled out into the dark morning. Dazed, I made my way to Jack. I needed him to enfold me in his arms, to murmur in French that everything would be okay.
And I wanted to find out what Aric had told him. What realities?
I entered his tent—
My breath hitched. Empty? His bag was gone, his books. I dropped to my knees to look under his cot. He’d taken his stash of whiskey bottles.
Jack had left me.
45
I was hyperventilating by the time I found a letter next to a two-way radio on his desk. Tears hit the paper as I read:
Evangeline,
I’m riding out early with the army.
I know who you’re going to choose, know it won’t be me. Now that I’m more familiar with that bastard, I’ve got to face facts. You weren’t with him because he messed with your head—you were with him because you wanted him over me. You and Death have something that I don’t understand, and I’ve got to start trying to get over you.
To pull your thorn from my skin.
Doesn’t mean I won’t be looking over my shoulder, praying you’ll come running after me. Or pick up that radio and tell me to rush back to you.
Selena’s riding out with us, says that’ll make you jealous and up my chances. I’m not above that, peekôn.
But I don’t expect it. You’re going to head east toward the last of your family. And once you find your grandmother, you’ll need to keep her safe. She doesn’t belong out on the road any more than you do. Both of you will be protected at the Reaper’s home. Hole up and plant your roots there.
Sunlamps and food and safety. Sounds mighty nice. I want that for you.
Because I love you.
This might be the most noble thing I’ve ever done. Noble, for the record, hurts like a blade to the heart.
Je t’aimerai toujours,
Jack
*****
Je t’aimerai toujours. I will love you forever.
I snatched up the radio, pressing the talk button. “Jack!”
Static.
“Can you hear me? I’m coming to you!”
Nothing.
Radio in hand, I stuffed the note into my jacket and hurried back to Finn’s tent for my bug-out bag. He still slept.
I whispered, “Good-bye, Magician.” Cyclops raised his head and sighed. I bent to scratch his frizzy head. “Thank you for everything, boy. I hope I get to see you and Lark again some day.” I grabbed my bag, then sprinted for my horse.
How much of a head start did Jack have? Surely I could reach the army in a couple of hours. The convoy would be hauling trailers, and the roads sucked. I could follow the wheel ruts.
Jack had no idea how much I loved him. I’d never even said the words, “I love you” to him. The urgency I felt to reach him, to tell him, strangled me.
When I careened into the stable, my poor mare’s expression: Oh, for fuck’s sake.
I saddled her in record time, then tore out of the gate. Shit, the mines! How to get around them? I knew about where they were.
I spotted tracks in the frozen mud. Thanatos’s hoofprints. Using them to reach Jack didn’t seem fair; I still did.
Past the mines and rock forest, I followed the river toward the bridge.
In the distance, I saw Death atop a rise, his shoulders back, his helmet off, his pale hair blowing in the wind.
Even from here, even amidst my panic, I felt his longing. In another lifetime, I could have been happy with him. In another lifetime, perhaps I would be.
With tears threatening once more, I turned from him. Don’t look back, Evie, don’t look back. He’d see it as some kind of sign. As encouragement. I knew this.
But I wanted one last glimpse of the man who’d turned my existence inside out. We locked gazes, his eyes like stars.
Time seemed to slow. I thought of the tattoos on his chest and his centuries of longing. Now he knew what he was missing. He’d told me the week we’d been apart had been gut-wrenching; I was leaving him for the rest of this lifetime. Banishing him to a place of nothingness.
How could he endure it?
Doubt filled me. No, I loved Jack. I was going to be with Jack. I would focus on the road ahead, on the future. Instead of the past.
When I dragged my gaze from Aric, his blood-curdling roar echoed across the countryside.
I pressed the back of my hand against my mouth, stifling a sob as I reached the bridge. Speeding across Circe’s abyss, I gave her tears in toll. . . .
For over an hour, I rode, checking the radio’s reception at every rise. Uninterrupted static.
I thought I spied a snowflake, wafting down like a petal. Probably just more ash—
No, there was another. And another. Real snow! This had to be a good sign. If the world couldn’t yet improve, at least it could change.
If the sun could disappear, it could reappear.
I tried the radio again. Nothing.
The flakes grew into a flurry. Soon a layer of snow stuck to the ground, painting it white. Did the air feel fresher? Fluffy down blanketed soot, and I welcomed it, even as riding became precarious.
Was Aric seeing the snow? Did it remind him of his childhood home in the north? I could scarcely comprehend that I would never see him again.
Every other minute, a snowflake would hit one of my eyes directly, the sting blurring my vision. I would blink to clear my eyes, and a detail from one of my last encounters with Death would blossom in my mind.
His hooded gaze as he’d said, “Can you comprehend what it’s like to touch her after so long without? For this bliss, I’ll risk the bullet. I’ll take a bullet.”